The Ministry of Land, Transport and Infrastructure (MOLIT) hosted a ceremony to celebrate the 2023 anniversary of Railway Day at the Westin Josun Seoul on June 28.
The anniversary event was jointly organized by the Korea Railway Association (KORASS), Korea National Railway (KR), KORAIL and SR.
Among those on hand at the event were about 400 railway industry representatives and related organization officials, including MOLIT Vice Minister Eo Myeong-so and KORASS Chairman Kim Han-young, concurrently KR chairman.
The anniversary event took place under the theme “Korea’s Railway Leading a Happy World,” an expression of railway industry people’s determination and wishing to make people safe and happy.
At a cabinet meeting held on May 8, 2018, the government changed the anniversary day from Sept. 18 to June 28 to celebrate the establishment of a railway department for the nation’s first government on June 28, 1894.
In previous years, Railway Day was observed in celebration of the Gyeongin Line, the nation’s first 33.2-km-long railroad route connecting Noryangjin and Jaemulpo in 1899.
Controversy flared over the celebration of Railway Day to mark the opening of the line, built by the Japanese, because it was a vestige of colonial rule of Korea.
In his opening speech, KORASS Chairman Kim said, “Transportation conditions have been revolutionized on the back of a dramatic increase in Korea’s investments in the railway sector since the opening of the Gyeongbu (Seoul-Busan) Railway Line in 2004.”
The budget for investing in the railway sector surpassed that for investing in the road sector in 2020.
“An institutional foundation for a sustainable, railway-oriented transportation system was laid by declaring carbon neutrality in 2021, and we’ll expand investments into the railway sector, a transportation leader of carbon neutrality,” he said.
Chairman Kim said, “The nation is vigorously hitting the gas to enter overseas railway markets, and Korea had made a feat of entering the European high-speed railway market by landing an order on the design consulting service of Poland’s high-speed railway network in 20 years since the nation’s introducing a high-speed railway system from Europe in 2004.”
KR has been implementing five new projects, including one on double-tracking the Pyeongtaek-Osong high-speed railway line without interruption, and the construction of GTX lines will be implemented on a gradual basis.
The Suseo-Dongtan section, part of the planned GTX-A line, is to be opened in the first half of next year, bringing about an urban transportation revolution, Chairman Kim said.
In his welcoming speech, Acting President Koh Joon-young of KORAIL said, “The Korean railway industry with a 129-year history and reserved capabilities, is now making preparations for a new leap forward, and several countries have come to Korea to take their cues from Korea.”
Acting KORAIL President Koh said the nation recently successfully held the OSJD Ministerial Conference and joined the International Rail Freight Transport Agreement (SMGS).
He said the high speed railway KTX had transported 960 million passengers cumulatively in 19 years, the railway sector has grown into a core innovation leader in the future mobility sector, and KORAIL will offer service innovation for a more convenient world by building a railway-oriented integrated mobility.
In his commemorative speech, MOLIT Vice Minister Eo said, “What our people in the railway sector should never miss is railway safety, and a foremost value should be attached to safety to make Korea’s railway flawless and trusted by people again.
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